“Skippers are responsible for the regular maintenance of their trailer, vessel and safety equipment, which includes checking that flares and EPIRBs have not expired,” Mr Beattie said.

A second crackdown will take place this weekend (November 19-20) and will be concentrated at launch sites between Woodman Point and Port Kennedy.

Cockburn Volunteer Sea Search and Rescue Group’s commander Brad Nicholassaid his team attends 200 incidents each year, returning more than 600 people safely to land.

He said the majority of rescues come over the summer period, but the increasing popularity of marine related activities meant demand for his team’s services was on the rise all the time.

“We recently towed a couple of capsized vessels back to shore,” he said.

“In one case the occupants were very lucky there was a passing commercial vessel to take them onboard.“In the other the people on board were able to swim to shore. Both of these incidents could have been very different
if luck wasn’t on their side.

“Unfortunately it sometimes takes a serious incident or near miss for people to realise just how vulnerable we can be in the marine environment.”

Mr Beattie said the best way to ensure skippers were compliant was to undertake the 45 point “BEST Check” guide, available on the DoT website.